


Fate Isn't Fair

by ParadoxWrites



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Loki: Agent of Asgard, Loki: Where Mischief Lies, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Ashes Scene in Avengers: Infinity War Part 1, Avenger Loki (Marvel), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, BAMF Avengers, BAMF Loki (Marvel), Based on a Tumblr Post, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Canon Divergence - Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Depressed Loki (Marvel), Don't Like Don't Read, Drama, Endgame, Hurt Loki (Marvel), Hurt No Comfort, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I'm Sorry, I'm sorry but that's the main part of the fic, Jotunn Loki (Marvel), Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Please Don't Hate Me, Please Don't Kill Me, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Protective Loki (Marvel), References to Norse Religion & Lore, Sorry Not Sorry, Suicidal Thoughts, Tags Are Hard, Tags May Change, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, This is really dark, Thor Dies (Marvel), Time Travel, Trust Issues, What Have I Done, What Was I Thinking?, You Have Been Warned, i live for the angst, the tumblr post was deleted, this is really angsty, time heist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:54:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29362833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParadoxWrites/pseuds/ParadoxWrites
Summary: What if Thor died instead of Loki on the Statesman? A journey through Infinity War and Endgame with our favourite God of Mischief. And if you couldn’t tell already, major character death and angst.
Relationships: Heimdall & Loki & Thor (Marvel), Loki & Avengers Team, Loki & Guardians of the Galaxy Team, Loki & Thor (Marvel)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 43





	Fate Isn't Fair

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for clicking on this story! It's going to be a very, very angsty one. Updates will come randomly as I haven't written any other chapter except this one. Please review and give constructive criticism, it is really appreciated! As for how long this fic will be, I have no clue as it will include both Infinity War and Endgame. If you didn't read the summary you should. You don't know what you're getting into if you don't. Major character death as I live for the angst. Plus, there is a quite obvious reference to Loki: Where Mischief Lies in this chapter if you have read it and if you haven't, well for one thing: read it, it's really good and the best book I've ever read, and also: don't worry there is no major spoiler for the book. I just felt like adding in one of the characters!

Chapter 1: The Final Goodbye

As soon as the eerie silhouette of Sanctuary II bathed the proportionately ant-sized Statesman, Loki knew that his time was up.

He didn’t expect to feel the overwhelming guilt but it was inevitable. He knew he shouldn’t have taken the Tesseract; it could cost him his own life and half of the remaining Asgardians. But without it he wouldn’t have escaped Surtur in time. If only he died facing Surtur, the people would be safe.

Thor would be safe.

Since when was he so sentimental? His brother was really rubbing off on him.

“Thor, we need to evacuate the ship,” Loki ordered while running out of their shared suite. He could practically hear the confusion painted over the older’s face. Loki couldn’t blame Thor - to him, he just yelled after seeing a random ship outside the window.

“Evacuate? Loki, what do you mean?” Thor chased Loki through the hallways of the ship, random Asgardians halting what they were doing and looking at their King and Crown Prince chasing each other down the corridor.

“There isn’t much time to explain, but I’ll put it simply: the ship that stopped in front of ours has dangerous people and they won’t hesitate to kill us.”

“Kill us? Brother, I know you’re dramatic, but isn’t that a little extreme?”

At that exact moment, a blast from Sanctuary hit the Statesman and everyone collapsed, using the walls as an attempt to stand. All Loki did to respond was a ‘Now do you believe me’ face that made Thor tremendously guilty. They continued the journey to the bridge and helped up any struggling passengers on the way.

“Keep to the main communal areas,” the brothers would request to the Asgardians they found, “and if you see anyone who’s lost, take them with you.”

Thor and Loki reached the bridge two minutes after the initial blast. Bruce, Heimdall and Valkyrie were there, discussing a plan while waiting for them. “We need to evacuate any citizens unable to fight,” Valkyrie suggested. The three turned as the royals entered the room.

“It should be relatively simple as we’ve directed them to the same room,” Thor added. “Heimdall, broadcast a message to everyone to head to the escape pods if they can’t fight, and those who can to stand ready.”

Heimdall didn’t need to be told twice and headed to the other side of the room, where the communication systems were. It was now like they were in the middle of an asteroid belt; the blasts were increasing in power and although some of them were missing their ship, it still made the Statesman rock - making everyone believe they were to fall into the darkest depths of space.

One certain blast hit the ship right next to where the five of them were located, causing the alarms to whirl even faster than before. Then a bang and Loki stumbled to the window. The Sanctuary II had docked. Bruce saw the worried expression on Loki’s face - a very rare feat - and turned towards Thor.

“What do we do?”

“We fight. For Asgard.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What a horrendous idea. Why did Thor think this was a good plan? Oh, right. Because he’s an oaf. Despite the looming pessimism caused by the current events, Loki couldn’t help but feel relieved that all the Asgardians escaped. It was an amazing feat that he persuaded Korg, Miek and even Valkyrie to go (although he was threatened by the latter if he didn’t make it out alive she’d send him to Hel herself).

That only left himself, Thor, Heimdall and Bruce as the Hulk on the ship. The warriors who valiantly fought against the Black Order alongside them had all fallen, but there was no doubt they’d reach Valhalla.

Loki stepped over one of the corpses littered in the hallway - the path towards death - towards Thanos. He paused and looked back. He recognised that dress, that hair, that face. Beneath the blood she was drenched in, her brown hair was still in its intricate (albeit tangled) design. Her chocolate locks were in thick braids carefully piled in specific placements on top of her head. Dark violet eyes that were once full of life were now still and staring blankly in death. Her gown blew slightly although there’s no wind in space - no doubt it was the looming seidr around the corpse - and stained a pale brown from the dirt of the ship.

Karnilla.

Amora’s mentor.

A wave of memories threatened to drown him, but Loki pulled himself out of it and continued down the path but not before closing her eyes. The thought that Odin’s sorceress couldn’t defeat the members of the Black Order certainly did not leave a good feeling within him. He might have been as powerful as Karnilla (or maybe more), but he couldn’t control it as well as before (before the void).

Though there was a trait he had that no one else in the Nine Realms possessed.

Silvertongue.

Loki discovered a newfound burst of confidence and continued down the hallway. It was only when he was nearing the end when a hand yanked out and grabbed him. He barely resisted a yelp, and turned towards his potential attacker. Within a split second, Loki drew out his dagger and didn’t hesitate to point it straight at the person’s neck. Only to find out that it was… Heimdall?

The gatekeeper still hadn’t loosened his death grip on Loki’s wrist, so the prince lowered his knife. Just as he did, Heimdall let go. There were a few moments of deafening silence, with Loki staring into those golden eyes and Heimdall looking into the green depths of his.

“I’d ask for your forgiveness, but I don’t think we have the time for that,” Loki deadpanned.

“Trust is a dangerous quality.” Heimdall replied with just as little emotion as Loki. Loki didn’t know how many times he'd heard this sentence in his childhood, but those five words clung to him for the millenia he’s lived. It seemed strange that it brought a sense of home to him, as Loki could never count Asgard as his home anymore (even before it was blown to smithereens).

“Thor told me he has a plan.”

“Does it involve him getting killed?” Loki tried to bring a small sense of humour into the awkward conversation between him and one of his closest friends (could he even call the gatekeeper that?) but his face fell when Heimdall showed the smallest trace of emotion - sadness. 

“It involves him dying, doesn’t it.” It wasn’t even a question, more of a statement trying to convince himself of the dreadful truth. “That idiot!” Loki said lovingly instead of hateful, and made to burst through the doors where Thor was probably being tortured by that wretched Titan.

“Wait. Let me explain what to do,” Heimdall’s eyes were now hard and stern. He pulled Loki back and rested his hands on both of his shoulders.

“I know you have the Tesseract.”

Loki suddenly found it hard to breathe. He didn’t have it in him to be angry at Heimdall either, so he just nodded.

Then Heimdall explained the plan.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Somehow Loki was being cornered by each one of Thanos’ children - Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw, Corvus Glaive and Cull Obsidian - with a triple-pointed spear at the back of his head. Standing in front of him was Thanos, holding Thor - Loki’s last living family member - by the head, making sure he was applying pressure to both of Thor’s temples as if he was an egg about to crack. The power stone shined a magnificent shade of purple like an amethyst in the gauntlet, desperate to be used.

“The Tesseract, or your brother’s head.”

Loki couldn’t believe this was happening.

“I assume you have a preference.”

‘I’m sorry, brother.’ “Oh, I do.”

The look on Thor’s face was begging for him to say those simple words. Maybe if he died, Loki would be safe. No. Loki will be safe.

“Kill away.”

Screams of pure agony forced themselves out of Thor’s mouth without his consent. It was like his head was being ripped apart, atom by atom. Loki could see how painful it was for his brother. His sinister smirk melted from his face, and small tears were threatening to spill. He just about managed to hold them back.

“Alright, stop!” Loki yelled it before he even thought to but he couldn’t see his brother in pain as severe as that. A malicious grin blossomed on Thanos’ face, one that suited the Titan perfectly. It was the smile of someone who knew they were going to receive exactly what they wanted; in this case it was torture for his victims and the space stone for himself. 

Loki ruined the plan.

“We don’t have the Tesseract, it was destroyed on Asgard.”

So Heimdall didn’t tell him. Loki lowered his head and conjured the glowing blue cube into his outstretched hand.

“I assure you brother, the sun will shine on us again.”

That was a false promise.

A promise of a small broken boy desperate for everything to turn out okay.

It was funny that would never happen.

“Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian.”

“Well for one thing, I’m not Asgardian. And for another, we have the Hulk.”

‘I guess we’re just winging it now,’ Loki thought. He dived for Thor.

Hulk crashed out of where he was hiding from just behind the wall. He stormed out towards Thanos, and the Titan’s children started making a move to try and stop them from harming their father. Hulk threw punches, hitting the purple grape in the head, gut and anywhere he could reach. It looked like Hulk could handle this for a while.

Loki turned his head back from the fight to his and Thor’s hiding place to be met with his brother’s confused and angry face. His eyes were shining with tears and he looked like a sad labrador puppy. 

“Why did you do that?” Thor whispered, tears slowly and silently streaming down his face. Loki was never used to seeing his older brother cry so openly like this, it felt strange and out of place. Everything nowadays was out of place.

“I couldn’t do it,” he replied, staring right into Thor’s eyes. He meant a lot by that; he couldn’t let Thor die, he couldn’t be brave enough or strong enough. He couldn’t see Thor in pain.

“You know one of us has to die, Loki.”

As if he didn’t know that already. But Loki knew he was the one to go, not Thor. Never Thor. Thor was capable of killing Thanos, destroying him. Loki on the other hand, was weak and couldn’t bring him to look in the Titan’s eyes without wanting to run away. Loki was a coward. He was the first to break eye contact. 

“I’m sorry,” Loki muttered. He wasn’t used to apologising so easily, but now was the last time he could ever say those words to Thor. He needed Thor to know how sincere he was because he would never speak to him again. “For everything. New Mexico, New York, Svartalfheim, Hela. I was… an idiot.”

“More like a bitch, but I’ll take that.” Thor smiled. Loki chuckled.

“I’ve been thinking a lot lately. About what you said in the elevator on Sakaar. Did you… really mean that? ‘Our paths diverged long ago.’” he quoted. Damn, he was getting sentimental. It must have shown on his face, as Thor reached out and hugged him. “What are you doing?” His voice was muffled as his face was buried in his brother’s shoulder. Reluctantly, he wrapped his arms round Thor's shoulders.

“I’m sorry too,” Thor said as he pulled away after a few moments. His eyes were glassy and it was obvious he was holding back sobs. Loki felt something wet on his cheek, and he realised he was crying also. So much for keeping his pride intact. 

“Can I tell you something?” Thor’s voice broke as he spoke. Loki knew this was them saying goodbye. He couldn’t bring himself to speak; he just stiffly nodded.

“When I first saw you, when you were a babe, mother asked me something. She said, ‘Thor, this is your baby brother. I want you to promise me that you will always protect him from danger. You may fight, you may argue, but tell me you will love him the most out of anything in the universe.’ And you know what I said? I promised I would protect you with my life. And I know I wasn’t the best brother but I never stopped loving you. Even when I said I hated you. Because, in here,” - Thor laid a hand against his chest on top of his heart - “you are the most important thing to me. I know I’ve broken that promise more times I’d like to admit, but now is when it counts the most. It sounds childish but you aren’t supposed to die first. You are still my baby brother, and I can’t let you die. You are my everything and if you go I’d… I’d lose myself. I can’t lose you again, Loki. So let me do this, please. I want to save you.”

Tears streamed down Loki’s face. He struggled to comprehend what was just said. Thor… Thor never hated him. Thor always loved him. That… Loki couldn’t believe that. He wanted to, Norns, he begged for him to believe that yet it was so difficult to understand.

“But-” 

Thor shushed him by lightly pressing a finger against Loki’s lips. “I’m not breaking this promise, Loki. Please, just stop with the self sacrifice for one time, okay? If there’s one favour you’d do for me, I beg you to do just this one.”

They looked into each other’s eyes. Loki saw the desperation in Thor’s eyes, and Thor saw the heartbreak in Loki’s.

“I can’t believe this is happening.” the younger brother whispered. Thor smiled a broken smile. 

“I don’t want to see you in Valhalla for at least another thousand years,” he chuckled. It didn’t have much humour in it but both brothers smiled.

“I assure you, you won’t.”

A loud crash echoed from behind the wall they were hiding next to, and the two of them glanced over. Thanos was now gaining the upper hand from Hulk. They could see one of the children attempting to help the purple grape, but another - Ebony Maw - stopped them.

“Let him have his fun.”

Thanos threw fists everywhere on Hulk's body, pushing him back. Hulk could only grunt as the force of the punches were far stronger than any being he had fought before. Before anyone knew it, Hulk was lifted up by Thanos’ strong hands and thrown down onto the hard metal floor, unconscious. Cuts and bruises littered the Hulk’s body and his nose bled a green blood. Loki and Thor glanced at each other, but it seemed more like Thor was staring at someone behind his brother. When he nodded, Loki turned around to see Heimdall creeping round the corner, lifting his hands up towards the green rage monster, and muttering a spell under his breath.

“Allfathers, let the dark magic flow through me one... last… time.”

He struggled to get the last words out since the dark energy focused its way to Heimdall’s hands but as he finished the spell, a light similar to the Bifrost shone and swallowed the Hulk up and pushed him out of the Statesman, forcing him through the depths of space towards Earth. The Black Order could only watch as one of their enemies escaped, then turned their heads towards Heimdall, snarling and growling under their breath.

“You shouldn’t have done that.”

Thanos marched towards the gatekeeper, double-ended sword in hand. Heimdall didn’t even make an attempt to escape, he just faced the Titan with a stoic expression. Loki glanced at Thor, who was watching and not doing anything to help.

“We should save him,” Loki muttered in Thor’s ear, but was only met with a hand blocking him from making any movement towards the execution. Loki understood what this meant, Heimdall and Thor were going (and wanted) to give up their lives for him.

Thanos swung the sword swift and cleanly through the air. Heimdall closed his golden eyes one last time. The blade struck his body right in the abdomen and red blood poured out. It barely took a second for the gatekeeper to collapse, dead.

Loki stood there in shock. His mouth hung open slightly and his green eyes were wide and unblinking. He couldn’t believe Heimdall welcomed death so willingly.

Ebony Maw grabbed the Tesseract from not too far from where Hulk’s body was before he was sent off, and bowed down towards Thanos. The Titan grabbed hold of the cube, ignoring what the alien was saying. He smashed it with one hand as easily as if it was glass. It shattered, making small shards in his hands with the Infinity Stone in the middle. Thanos picked it up, and examined it; eying the swirling shades of blue mixing together. He then placed it into the gauntlet on his other hand, the magnetic force bonding it to the glove. He strained under the pain momentarily. Loki’s eyes wandered until he saw Thor looking at him.

The two brothers turned to face each other.

“This is goodbye, brother.”

“Don’t say that,” Loki replied, voice breaking. Thor patted his shoulder.

“I’ll see you soon. But not too soon, I hope.”

With that Thor grabbed a sword from a body nearby, and walked out. Loki could hear words being exchanged, but he couldn’t comprehend them and his mind was all a blur. There were the sounds of a fight, metal-on-metal and scraping against the floor. Loki couldn’t bear to look. He couldn’t see the light going out of the bright blue eyes his brother possessed. The eyes that were always happy and shining. 

‘No, I have to. Nobody should die alone.’ Loki thought. He looked past the corner to where Thanos and Thor were to find that his brother had the sword knocked out of his hand and was laying on the floor not too far away from where he was hiding. Thor looked up into the purple face of the Titan, and Loki immediately felt regret that the last thing his brother would see while he was living was that ugly prune.

Thanos lifted one hand - the hand wielding the Infinity Gauntlet - and wrapped it around Thor’s neck. He breathed in a harsh, shaky breath and glanced to the side of Thanos’ head - directly where Loki was. They exchanged eye contact and the Titan lifted Thor off the ground. The God of Thunder squirmed under the grip, trying to force his way out. Eventually, he gave up, knowing he won’t succeed and that Thanos was stronger.

Gasping for enough breath to say one more sentence, something iconic yet dramatic like what Loki would do, he choked:

“You will… never be… a god.”

An ear splitting crunch echoed through the ship. Thor was unmoving, his neck bent at an awkward angle. There was no life in his eyes, only blood streaming down his face from his eye sockets, nose and mouth. Loki couldn’t breathe. Thor was dead.

His brother was dead.

Loki failed. The one person he wanted to save, he lost. There was no getting Thor back. He was shaken with grief. He didn’t care anymore. Tears flowed freely down his face, the cold water droplets staining his skin. He let out a sob. Thanos and his children looked in his direction.

“You know you would long for something as sweet as pain.”

With that, Thanos let go of Thor’s body and it landed on the ground with a thud. He gripped the gauntlet in a fist movement, allowing the power stone to have its fun and start collapsing the ship. He then used the space stone to teleport himself and the Black Order away, back onto Sanctuary II.

Loki ran up to Thor, holding his body in his arms. Just like he did Karnilla, he closed his brother’s eyes with two of his fingers so it looked like he was only sleeping. He pulled off the cloth of his cape, and covered Thor’s body in it; wiping the blood from his brother’s face in the process. 

The power gushing through the ship reached absurd levels and Loki didn’t make a move to try to escape. ‘This is the end,’ he believed. He rested his head on Thor’s chest, and allowed his raven locks to cover the muscular body. He weeped. He cried. He lost something inside him.

He lost a brother.

**Author's Note:**

> I'M SO SORRY (I'm not sorry at all ;])  
> Please comment, save, leave kudos and subscribe because I have know damn clue when I'm going to be updating this baby  
> I would love to hear your opinions and constructive criticism is highly appreciated!  
> See you all in the next chapter, whenever that will be!  
> \- Paradox


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